After driving the car for six hours straight to New York City for a show, musician Mike Przygoda reached for a Diet Coke, one year after he broke his habit of drinking five cans a day.

“After six hours of driving, I had to have a Coke,” said the keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist for the indie-pop-folk band REGO.

The group will perform at 9 p.m. today at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St. Admission is free. Musicians Sara Cram and Bree Nettie will also play.

REGO has been together for three years, with changing musicians; it consists of a guitarist, drummer, vocalist, keyboardist, and bassist. Rebecca Rego, the group’s vocalist and songwriter, said the music is upbeat and lively but also speaks to the “Norah Jones demographic” with its slower, heartfelt songs.

“I think it’s a blend of pretty delicate folk songs with a little harder edge of rock ’n’ roll,” Przygoda said. “Rebecca writes songs that span a lot of emotions, and they translate to the audience well.”

He described the group’s live performances as “sensitive ridiculousness” and said the members create a fun atmosphere onstage.

REGO is currently touring the Midwest, hitting venues in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Tonight, the band will mostly play tracks from its latest album, *From the Royal Arcade*, which came out in 2009. Rego will also perform a few songs from her acoustic solo album, All of These Bones and Us which will be released February 2012.

Rego, who has worked as a bartender at The Village Tap in Chicago for the past four years, said she gets musical inspiration from listening to people while working.

“I get a lot of inspiration from that,” the 27-year-old said. “I also get inspiration {to write songs] from friends and things that are happening in the news.”

All of the band members have worked or currently work in the restaurant industry and the members make it their goal to find a great diner in each city they visit on tour and often have great conversations with the restaurant staff.

Przygoda said he really liked the pizza at The Mill, “though it’s not Chicago pizza.” The 29-year-old added that the band had a great time in Iowa City on its last tour.

Rego agreed that Iowa City is a city the band enjoys visiting and plans to continue to play there in the future.

“We are really excited to come back to Iowa City,” Rego said. “I really like the vibe there. I think that there are a lot of really interesting, creative people that go there and I hope to play there regularly.”